Women-Only Hotel Floors: Smart or Sexist?

Travel Blog  •  Elyse Franko  •  08.06.08 | 12:27 PM ET

The revival of women’s floors in hotels—complete with vanity mirrors, yoga mats and extra-soft socks to satisfy the “needs” of a modern woman—is sparking controversy among female travelers and hospitality workers. While hotels seem to believe that women’s floors will make a stay more enjoyable by catering specifically to female tastes, the New York Times reports that women’s floors are viewed as discriminatory by many.

The idea of women’s floors is nothing new. After World War II, many hotels added separate women’s floors in an effort to increase security and comfort for female travelers. But after a few decades, women’s floors weren’t viewed in such a rosy light.

“By the mid-‘80s, separate floors in hotels offended many women who were traveling on business,” Bjorn Hanson, hotel analyst and faculty member at the Tisch Center, told the Times. “They were trying to be C.E.O.‘s but were looked on as the weaker sex. Women’s floors became a kind of sexist thing instead of a polite offer.”

Hotels are justifying the rebirth of women’s floors, which have become increasingly popular in the last three years, by saying that women look for different offerings in their hotels—women’s magazines, lighter menu options and nicer soaps, among other things. But, as former Wyndham vice president Cary Broussard told the Times, some women are taking offense to being treated differently. “Women don’t aspire to be isolated after working years to be assimilated,” she said.


Elyse Franko is a Long Island native, a graduate of the American University School of Communication in Washington, D.C., and a former World Hum intern. During her time at university, she wrote and edited for several campus publications and fostered her love for traveling by spending time abroad in Istanbul, Turkey, and Berlin, Germany. She currently works as a teaching assistant in Vienna, Austria.


1 Comment for Women-Only Hotel Floors: Smart or Sexist?

Ling 08.06.08 | 2:52 PM ET

Yeah, I read about the Premier re-opening with a women’s only floor with yoga mats and stuff. Seems like its kindof stretching the concept a bit to accomodate both feminists and girl getaway travelers. Not going to work, I think.

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